But from what her mom had said, Misty was making her peace with the human world and wasn’t coming back. Her brother had been hurt bad. She couldn’t bear getting punished for having pity on a dog or falling for the wrong boy anymore. Misty was tired and ready to become just another wolf in Birmingham.
Daniel drove to the furnace. Pulling to the gate, he stepped out into the gnat-dizzy heat. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he called, “Misty? Marc? Your mom called me. She’s really worried about you guys. I heard about the fight, Marc. You’re pissed. You have a right to be. But if you kill somebody, you can’t come back from that. How can you ever come back from that?”
Birds sang through the brambles. The only wolves Daniel saw were the pair painted on the main office warning him away.
“Listen, I know we’re not really friends anymore, but maybe we could just … whatever, just talk or something.” Wiping sweat from his face, Daniel opened the padlock and unwound the chain holding the gate closed. “I’m coming in, okay? I just want to talk, okay?”
The dense scrub burst open. Gray-and-white fur, furious barks, and Daniel fell backward screaming. It took a moment for him to realize he hadn’t been bitten.
Daniel had known his packmates apart by smell more than sight. Now, he couldn’t tell who stood at the open gate, only that the wolf was both beautiful and terrible, head hunched low between shoulders, spit dripping from snarling lips.
The wolf turned and vanished back into the brush, leaving Daniel lying in the gravel, every thudding beat of his heart a gift. Beyond the gate, the dense plant life shuddered as the pack joined together. None of them had been more than ten yards away, but the weave of shadow and sunlight, browns and ochers, disguised their outlines, making them almost invisible.
The wolves formed a single-file line. Daniel watched them curve southwest toward a hole they’d cut in the distant side of the fence. Somehow, Daniel got to his feet and got into his car. He blew through a red light to reach the hole blocks away, but the pack had made it there first and were already gone.
His phone started vibrating again. It was his mom. The school must have called her. Tossing it in the passenger seat, Daniel circled the block, then the next, then the next. The city had so many cracks—alleys, storm culverts, abandoned buildings—he didn’t know how he’d find them or what he could do if he did. He kept looking, though.
Morning turned to afternoon. His parents called twice more, but Daniel could face them later. He tried telling himself maybe the wolves would just seethe for a while, lick their wounds, then show up for school next Monday like nothing had happened.
Driving around the city, though, Daniel spotted red-and-white mushrooms blossoming in empty lots and in the flower beds decorating UAB Medical Center. There were more every hour, erupting like plague sores. Daniel could tell himself whatever he liked; the rot-eater god was rising.
CHAPTER 22
Café Five Nine was in an old building a block south of the Storyteller Fountain. The restaurant shared the street level with a jewelry boutique and a Middle Eastern imports store. They had an open mike night every Sunday on the second floor. Other times, they rented the space out for wedding receptions, art shows, and parties. Empty at the moment, the second floor was a puzzle box of brick archways, with lots of hidden niches for end-of-the-year, last-chance hijinks.
“Miss?”
Misty walked through spears of sunlight that came through high, circular windows and sparked dust motes. Chairs stood on small tables. A stage dominated the largest room, ringed by dark theater lamps.
“Miss? I saw you come up here.”
A stairwell led to the space’s separate Highland Avenue entrance. Misty knocked. Val, standing on the sidewalk outside, knocked back.
“There you are. You can’t get out that way. That door’s locked.”
Turning, Misty climbed the stairs again. The waitress stood at the top. “You’re not supposed to be here, anyway. Would you like me to …”
Marc’s blood had dried around Misty’s eye and stiffened wild strands of hair. Misty refused to wash it away yet.
“Are you okay, honey?”
Shoving the waitress aside, Misty crossed the second floor again, then walked back out through the clinking silverware and easy lunch talk of the restaurant. She described the layout to Eric. He listened and mulled over angles of attack. The restaurant closed at ten. That door would be locked after that, and only the Highland Avenue entrance would be open.
They walked around the building. Somebody had tried to turn the alley into a courtyard with park benches and a concrete birdbath, but it didn’t get enough sun for much to grow. Now, two motorcycles stood there and the birdbath was missing its bowl. Amanita muscaria surrounded a serene statue of Saint Francis.
Val motioned toward the power meter clicking on the rear wall. “We could take out the lights first, like in the school. Then they—”
“No more hiding, no more keeping to the dark.” Eric shook his head. “No going back.”
At dusk, the pack returned to the furnace; Daniel wouldn’t linger there after nightfall. Eric sent Misty and Marc for mushrooms while he and Val started the fire.
A copperhead, coiled up waiting for a rat, felt Misty approach. Deciding he didn’t want anything to do with her, he wove off through the grass. Misty ignored him and gathered mushroom caps in the front of her shirt the way she’d gathered daisies when she’d been young. Red clay clung to her boots and stained her fingers orange. It streaked her skirt and bare calves.
Marc made a whuf sound with his human throat. When Misty turned, he tossed a mushroom into the air. Taking a lurching sidestep, Misty caught it in her shirt. She let out a triumphant laugh, and Marc grinned, flashing the gap-toothed smile Keith had given him. The side of his face was scabbed and still swollen. Misty felt another jab of hate every time she looked at him.
Gathering a few more caps, she walked toward her brother. “Once this starts, we won’t have much time before the cruisers come. Eric will want to push it too far, stay too long, but we stick together. Find Keith first, then Spence and Scotty. Make sure the rest of them leave for college or wherever and never come back. Then we disappear.”
Marc nodded. “What about Angie?”
“I’ll take care of Angie.”
“What do you think we’re going to do after… after tonight. Are we just going to live here or—”
“We’re going to stick together. And we’re going to be okay.”
Marc nodded again, and Misty dumped her mushrooms into his shirt. They’d gathered six or seven for each of them, double what they’d ever eaten in one night before. “Go back to the shed. I need to check on something.” Marc started for the casting shed, then Misty added, “Hey. Thanks for not… when Daniel came by this morning. Thanks.”
“Don’t let him mess this up,” Marc said.
“He won’t.”
They split up. Pulling her phone out, Misty walked into the building housing the row of tall, still engines.
The pack had spent months slipping farther and farther past the borders of civilization, but they’d always come back eventually. This time, their exile would be permanent. They weren’t meant for the human world. They all accepted it. And maybe they’d even suspected it before the rot-eater god had given them the power to transform into their true selves.
Still, there had been a few humans who’d treated them humanely, a few who’d never shoved them aside or looked down on them. Misty had already said good-bye to her mom. When Marc had disappeared earlier, the rest of them pretended they didn’t know he’d gone to call his and Misty’s dad, probably their grandparents, too. Val had also slipped away for a few minutes while they’d roamed the city. Only Eric seemed prepared to leave and never look back.
Misty had turned her phone off the first time her mom tried to reach her last night. There were more than a dozen messages, but she didn’t listen to them. Calling Daniel, she hoped his voice mail would pick up.
Halfway through the second ring, he shouted, “Misty!”
“Hey.”
“Listen. I know about the fight—”
“Don’t worry about any of that.”
“I’m worried.” He tried to laugh. “Where are you? What’s going—?”
“You may have been right. When you said I wouldn’t have trusted you if you’d told me you’re going to Cornell. I might have decided I didn’t like you very much, and it wouldn’t have had anything to do with who you were, just who I’m not. Just jealousy, I guess.”
“I’m so sorry about that, Misty. I’m so—”
“Be quiet, Daniel.”
He stopped talking. Listening to him breathe, Misty watched night settle across Birmingham like ash.
Finally, Daniel whispered, “Misty?”
“I just wanted to tell you I don’t hate you. I just wanted you to know that.”
“Okay. So let’s meet somewhere and talk, then. Or if you don’t want that, that’s fine. But just tell me—”
“Bye, Daniel.”
“Wait! Misty, wait. I’ve been thinking, you know, and fuck Cornell. That’s what my parents wanted. I want to be with you. I love you.”
Misty wiped her eyes. “Don’t do this to me again. Please.”
“I’m telling the truth! I don’t want any of that stuff. I want you. I just want you.”
Misty could hear traffic noises in the background. He was still looking for them. But Daniel could have given up Cornell anytime. He hadn’t, because—even if he hated it sometimes—he was a shooting star, just like Misty was a wolf.
“Go home,” she said. “You need to stay inside tonight.”
“No. I know you don’t have any reason to believe me, Misty, but you have to. You have to. Please, Misty.” He kept talking, saying her name over and over.
Closing her eyes, Misty looked inside herself. Daniel would hear any uncertainty in her voice. Finally, she cut off his rambling. “I’m glad I met you, despite everything. But get in our way tonight, and I’ll kill you,”
“Misty…”
“It’s time to grow up. Bye, Daniel.” She turned her phone off before he could call her back. Slumping in the doorway, Misty breathed deep. She took a minute to get control of herself, then stood up and walked toward the firelight wavering through holes in the casting shed’s roof.
Heat made the pack’s faces drip sweat. Val fed the fire with pieces of art, color studies and crayon portraits she’d taken home as the school year wound down but never bothered pulling out of her backseat.
Misty shoved a tempera still-life into the embers, watching it turn black and curl up like a dying spider. The pigments made tongues of flame burn green. She wished she could go home just long enough to tear the posters and pictures cut from magazines off her walls. Misty imagined burning all her nice clothes, her books, a pair of wings made from bent coat hangers and pantyhose.
Streetlights flickered awake. Filling the city with the metallic reek of ozone, they signaled the end of childhood.
Val turned on her stereo, the slides already set to reduce music to a single, maddening beat. The wolves began their stomp-dance around the flames. Eric scooped two mushroom caps off the slag. As he chewed, he yelled so loud, his body shook. “Break! Everything!”
Misty, Val, and Marc joined him, screaming though the sweltering dark. “Break everything! Break everything! Break everything!”
“Shit!” Daniel threw his phone against the dashboard. “Shit! Shit! Shit!”
He’d meant it. Telling Misty he wanted her, that he’d give it all up for her, he’d meant every word. Listening to them spilling up from his chest, Daniel knew he’d finally reached bedrock truth. But after layer beneath layer of lies, it was too late.
Defying the relentless fall of night, defying the wolf who’d driven him off that morning and Misty’s promise a few minutes ago, Daniel kept searching. Blood and slaughter were coming to Birmingham. Even if others were just as guilty, Daniel had played his part in calling it down. He didn’t know if he could stop it anymore, but if he ran away now, Daniel would become the most refined breed of monster, one with perfectly clean hands.
He stopped by Florence Deli, but Ilie didn’t know much. He went to Val’s and Eric’s homes, but their parents were just as useless. Desperate, Daniel went by Misty’s apartment, hoping for any clue her mom hadn’t told him earlier. She wasn’t home, though, probably out looking for Misty and Marc herself.
Standing on the porch, Daniel glanced over at Charlie Say What’s apartment. Spence had joked Marc and Eric owed them a case of beer. Suddenly, Daniel remembered introducing him and Bwana to Charlie months ago.
Running across the parking lot, Daniel pounded on Charlie’s door. Nobody answered, but he could hear the TV. “I know you’re home! Open up, or I’ll kick the door down. I swear to God!”
The deadbolt snapped back, and Elsa appeared. “Charlie’s pretty pissed with you guys,” she said.
“So the fight was here?”
“Yeah, it was here.” Behind Elsa, Charlie sat on the couch, flipping across channels. “That kind of shit brings the police. Tell your friends, they ever—”
“It’s going to get worse.” Daniel shouldered past Elsa into the apartment. “The kind of shit that ends up on the front page. The kind where the cops hunt down everybody involved. If you go to prison again, what will they cut off this time?”
Charlie exploded off the couch. Before Daniel could step back, the ogre had a hold of his throat, heaving him to his tiptoes.
“I’m trying to stop it, okay?” Daniel croaked. “You need to help me.”
Charlie studied him for a second, nodded, then dropped Daniel back to his feet. Daniel smelled weed on his breath and wondered how Charlie moved so fast stoned.
Yesterday, Spence had come over with some smart ass Daniel guessed was Scotty and another boy named Kevin.
“Kevin? You mean Keith?”
“Maybe. He was the one throwing the party.”
Daniel’s brain dug for a barely listened-to conversation with his mom. He almost laughed. Somehow, it was actually worse than he’d imagined. Half the school was going to Keith’s stupid party.
“So what? They see Eric and Marc and just go beat them up?”
Charlie shook his head. “Marc and Eric saw them. First Marc got up in Kevin or whoever’s face, then all of them were fighting.”
“Why would—Oh, shit,” Daniel said, remembering Marc’s grudge with Keith.
“Sorry. Aren’t you and Misty split up, anyway? Thought you were a college man now. Getting out of this shithole.”
“We did. I am. It’s a long story. I need to go, okay?”
Charlie nodded. “Just keep the cops off my ass.”
“And keep Marc and them out of trouble,” Elsa shouted as Daniel rushed out. “I love those kids.”
Streetlights had begun flickering awake. For the first time since he’d been six, Daniel was afraid of the dark. Back in his car, he found his phone on the floorboard and thanked God it hadn’t broke when he’d thrown it.
When Keith answered, his greeting was drowned out by thumping music. The party had already started.
“Keith, you have to get out of there.”
“Just a second—hey, it’s Daniel! Everybody say hi!”
A chorus of shouts rose up. “Thanks for warning us about the pack!” Angie laughed. “We’re all looking over our shoulders now. Covering our butts!”
Spence must have told them about Daniel’s panicked blowup in school earlier. Ignoring Angie’s mocking, Daniel asked, “Where the hell are you, Keith?”
“Daniel wants to come to the party! Should I invite him?”
A second chorus of boos.
“Sorry. I think that’s a no.”
“This isn’t a joke! They’re coming. They’re coming now!”
“Yeah, well, we’ve seen how your friends fight. Not too worried.”
“What’s up, Daniel?” Suddenly, Scotty had
the phone. “Just wanted to tell you that, uh, when we were beating the shit out of those two little queers, it felt really, really good. Okay, bye!”
Keith chuckled. “It really did.”
“Yeah? Why don’t you tell everybody what the fight was about, then?”
Keith kept the phone to himself this time. “That doesn’t matter anymore,” he said, the exuberance gone from his voice.
“Yes, it does! It’s going to matter a lot if you don’t get everybody the hell out of there.”
“Listen to me.” The music faded behind Keith as he stepped away from his friends. “This is my moment. I wasn’t about to let Marc steal it from me, and I’m not about to let you.”
“Steal it? Keith, you beat a guy bloody for sticking up for his sister.”
“Yeah, well, it won’t be shit compared to what we do to you or your little pack if you show your faces tonight. And, just so you know, I make Angie lick my balls, and she fucking loves it.” Keith hung up.
Daniel swore and punched the steering wheel. He had to get to that party. Uncle Josh and Aunt Leslie would know where it was, but Daniel only had Keith’s cell number in his phone, not any for his parents. Keith lived on the far side of Twentieth Street. Daniel’s own house was closer. Speeding home, Daniel tried to park and ran one tire onto the lawn. His dad stood at the window.
“Where have you been?” he demanded as Daniel barreled in.
Daniel ignored him. In the kitchen, Daniel’s mom was reading to Mack at the table. “Damnit, I’m supposed to be at work right now!” she snapped.
“When you talked to Aunt Leslie about Keith’s party, did she say where it was?”
“What? No. Mr. Fine called this morning. You’ve been suspended for the rest of the year. Do you realize that? Do you even care anymore? They’re letting you take your finals in ISS, and thank God for that.”
Unleashed Page 21
